Beshear & Cameron campaigns reload $850k, $481k in last 15 days
Gov. Andy Beshear’s re-election campaign brought around $850,000 and GOP gubernatorial nominee Attorney General Daniel Cameron. Cameron raised $481,000 in just 15 days.
The governor has had a fundraising advantage over Cameron throughout the contest and had raised nearly $18 million to Cameron’s roughly $5.3 million throughout the primary and general as of the last reporting period to the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance.
A majority of Cameron’s fundraising in the last 15 days came from $250,000 in contributions from the Republican Party of Kentucky.
Beshear reported more than 2,300 itemized contributions, with nearly 1,800 of those from Kentucky donors. Of Cameron’s 766 itemized contributions, 659 came from Kentucky addresses.
In that 15-day span, the Beshear campaign reported spending nearly $2.1 million, of which almost $1.4 million went to buying advertising and more than $500,000 for fundraising. Cameron’s campaign spent just over a million, with around $886,000 going towards advertisement-related expenses.
Though Beshear has outraised Cameron in every report, the candidates ended this reporting period with similarly diminished amounts of cash on hand. Cameron had a final balance of $425,000 while the Beshear campaign enters the final two weeks before Election Day with $670,000 cash on hand.
While most all publicly available polls show Beshear with a lead over Cameron, political experts on both sides of the aisle have cautioned the public from putting too much stock in state polls.
Beshear’s campaign manager, Eric Hyers, said in a release that the $850,000 figure proves the campaign has the momentum to win in November.
“This final pre-election fundraising report shows our campaign remains in a strong position heading into the final days to reelect one of the most popular governors in the country,” Hyers said. “Voters are fired up to reelect Andy Beshear and their enthusiasm is clear on the ground, in polling and in all of our fundraising numbers. Throughout this entire race, our campaign has out-raised and out-organized the Cameron campaign, and we’re ready to win on November 7th.”
Down the ballot
While Cameron and Beshear have take up most of the oxygen and airtime this year, candidates for other statewide offices have been working hard to fill their campaign coffers, some of whom have also placed ads on television.
Republican candidate for attorney general Russell Coleman, having raised more than $1.3 million total since announcing his candidacy, has paced the down-ticket in fundraising throughout.
Of the down-ballot candidates who have reported their fundraising totals, here’s how much they raised in the last 15 days and how much cash on hand they reported:
GOP nominee for attorney general Russell Coleman - $101,000 raised, $192,000 cash on hand
Democratic nominee for attorney general Pam Stevenson - $41,000 raised, $62,000 cash on hand
GOP Secretary of State Michael Adams, running for re-election - $35,000 raised, $333,000 cash on hand
Democratic candidate for secretary of state Buddy Wheatley - $13,000 raised, -$45,000 cash on hand
GOP candidate for commissioner of agriculture Jonathan Shell - $52,000 raised, $66,000 cash on hand
Democratic candidate for commissioner of agriculture Sierra Enlow - $18,000 raised, $47,000 cash on hand
Democratic candidate for auditor Kim Reeder - $9,000 raised, $89,000 cash on hand
GOP Treasurer and candidate for auditor Allison Ball - $43,000 raised, $175,000 cash on hand
Democratic candidate for treasurer Michael Bowman - $17,000 raised, $31,000 cash on hand
GOP candidate for treasurer Mark Metcalf - $13,000, $43,000 cash on hand
